We’re coming up on a long weekend.  Our school system has been generous, giving the children not only President’s Day, but the Friday prior as well.  Four whole days in a row, and we’re taking advantage of it by going on a little road trip. Most of you probably know that traveling with children can […]

There’s a regression happening in food.  People are going backward instead of forward (well, unless you count folks like Ferran Adria and Grant Achatz and those of their ilk in the world of “progressive cuisine”).  We’re headed back to simpler times, using ingredients that our ancestors might have recognized.  We’re shying away from things that […]

Yesterday, before the sun had risen too high in the sky and pushed the temperatures into the stratosphere, I wandered down to the garden, toddler in tow.  As the 18-month old chased the chickens (bock-bocks as he calls them) in and around the cypress trees, I examined the various plants to see if any were […]

She was a freshman in college: a little overweight, introverted and shy. She was excited, but a little unsure of herself in this new situation.  As an only child, she had never really shared a room with anyone else, let alone a perfect stranger.  She wasn’t even sure she really liked people all that much […]

Do you like things a little bit spicy?  I’m not sure when it happened for me, but for as long as I can remember I have liked spicy foods.  Loved them, actually – even as a child.  It was like a badge of honor if you could eat spicy foods without complaining.  And I could […]